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Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism294
In the same way the “good” list includes the majority of unpleasant things,
the prevailing idea being that Deity delights in seeing his children doing
things unpleasant to them, and waxes wroth if they chance to indulge in a
pleasant act. Creeds and sects are devised, and dire punishment is meted
to those who do not accept the former and join the latter. The idea seems
to be that those who do not agree with one’s particular conception of
Deity are “against God,” or “God’s enemies,” and must and will be punished
by him. People often prefer to relieve God of the task of punishing these
unbelievers, and proceed to do it themselves.
People in this stage of spiritual development are usually quite strenuous.
They declare certain days to be “holy” (as if all days were not so) and insist
that certain places are holier than others. They claim that certain peoples
and races are “chosen” and favored, and that the rest are hated by Deity.
They insist that only a handful of men are to be “saved,” and that the majority
of God’s children are destined to everlasting damnation and punishment.
Hell is very hot when seen from the viewpoint of Stage ii. Hate, arising from
the feeling of self-righteousness, is a marked characteristic of this stage—
sects are formed, and hate and jealousy are manifested between them. Fear
reigns, and the Divine Love is almost lost sight of. The Brotherhood of Man
is but a name in this stage—all the brotherly feeling that is to be seen is
confined to the people belonging to some particular sect. The outsiders are
not “brothers,” but “heathen,” “pagans,” “unbelievers,” “dissenters,” “heretics,”
etc. The sense of the Oneness of All, which is instinctively felt in Stage i (and
both seen and felt in Stage iii), is apparently neither seen or felt in Stage
ii. In this stage separateness seems to be the keynote. As the race passes
still further along in this stage, and Intellect further unfolds, the reasoning
faculties cause it to discard many superstitions and foolish notions that
had at one time seemed sacred and the truth itself. Sheath after sheath is
discarded as outworn and no longer necessary, and usually a period of
disbelief and skepticism sets in. The old things have been thrown aside,
but nothing seems to have come to take their place. But after this phase,